How Andy Burnham could do immigration differently
Prime Minister Andy Burnham speaks with John Craig, Interim Chief Coastguard, and Duncan Capps, Border Security Commander, near a recovered small boat, August 2, 2026 (PA Images / Alamy)
4 min read
Andy Burnham arrived in Downing Street with a promise to do politics differently.
With little said so far on immigration, and Shabana Mahmood returning as Home Secretary, it would be easy to assume that there will be continuity in this policy area. But there are welcome clues that he may try to walk a different line.
Here are three ways a Burnham government could do things differently on immigration.
1. Put care of people first
Our new Prime Minister is often described as an instinctive politician, visibly empathising with people’s concerns and experiences. His willingness to listen to voters’ anxieties over the current immigration system, without engaging in an arms race on rhetoric or dehumanising those at the centre of the debate, has been a breath of fresh air to many.
While Burnham agrees that the current system of permanent settlement in the UK needs root and branch reform, he has also shown concern about forcing people to wait many years without the ability to settle. This may mean the Starmer government’s contentious reforms to settlement are liable to change. These proposals not only extend the wait for a route to permanent residency for most migrants; they could lead to hundreds of thousands becoming ineligible entirely, risking unsettlement and indefinite insecurity.
The Home Office is reportedly preparing to amend its proposals. A Burnham government should ensure this happens, scrapping plans to make status temporary for as long as 15 or even 20 years for care workers and recognised refugees, and choosing not to change the rules retrospectively for those people who are already here.
2. Hand power back to communities
By now, those listening closely will know Burnham’s central diagnosis: in the 1980s, Britain took some wrong turns, with political power centralised and economic power privatised.
Asylum dispersal is a good example of this. Since Labour was last in power, asylum accommodation and support has been centralised and outsourced, creating a system that houses asylum seekers in the greatest numbers in some of the UK’s poorest postcodes, while making billionaires out of the owners of the private companies.
Burnham has previously said he wants to rip up these contracts and hand power back to local government. He could also clear hotels far earlier than the planned 2029 deadline by switching the money spent on hotels into a capital fund that allows councils to invest in social housing for all – another priority for the Prime Minister.
Another way he can hand communities greater control is through the government’s new ‘named community sponsorship’ scheme. Announced with little fanfare last month, the scheme allows community groups to identify refugees they wish to sponsor to be resettled in the UK, if they meet basic criteria. Similar to ‘Homes for Ukraine', this is a real opportunity to put communities in the driving seat if it is prioritised.
3. Get Britain believing in itself again
Burnham has promised to "bring back hope" and get Britain believing in itself again. Creating a progressive immigration system that works and commands public support will be integral to this.
The Prime Minister should start by addressing irregular Channel crossings. If the government acts fast, there could be scope to bring other European countries into an expanded version of the UK-France deal, allowing Britain to return far more people arriving by small boat in exchange for offering a safe passage to those in need of asylum from Europe. Expanding the deal could allow Burnham make real progress on a key voter concern while delivering an asylum system that is both principled and orderly.
Of course, other aspects of the system urgently need reform too. It is visibly and badly broken; delivering poorly for local communities, refugees and migrants alike. But there is scope through reforms like these to begin to rebuild it, and in doing so, project a vision of a confident, multiracial Britain that can believe in its future again.
Beth Gardiner-Smith is senior policy associate at the Future Governance Forum
